diff --git a/depends/launcher/org/multimc/Utils.java b/depends/launcher/org/multimc/Utils.java
index 1077065a..67a4b8e8 100644
--- a/depends/launcher/org/multimc/Utils.java
+++ b/depends/launcher/org/multimc/Utils.java
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
 
 public class Utils
 {
@@ -235,8 +238,11 @@ public class Utils
 		ZipFile zip = new ZipFile(source);
 
 		boolean applyHacks = false;
-		String[] javaVersionElements = System.getProperty("java.version").split("\\.");
-		int major = Integer.parseInt(javaVersionElements[1]);
+		// find the first number in the version string, treat that as the major version
+		String s = System.getProperty("java.version");
+		Matcher matcher = Pattern.compile("\\d+").matcher(s);
+		matcher.find();
+		int major = Integer.valueOf(matcher.group());
 		if (major >= 8)
 		{
 			applyHacks = true;